The Origins of the Elementals
by gumptiousGriffin
Summary: A story of my own about four people affected by an explosion that causes each of them to be able to control one of the four elements.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **A Living Shadow**

Shade stepped off of the bus and started walking the rest of the way home. He sighed. The first day of his senior year of highschool had been much like his other years: horrible. As he walked, he thought about what happened, and he didn't see the dark cloud come from an explosion behind him. A few seconds after it appeared, Shade was knocked to the ground by the force of the boom.

He looked back and saw the oppressive cloud quickly gaining on him. Shade put his hood on and ran to hide in the alleyway at the end of the street. As soon as he had ducked into the alley, a bolt of electricity flowed through him, courtesy of the man behind him with a taser. The man took Shade's wallet and ran out of the alley, directly into the dark cloud.

The cloud rushed into the alley, into the electrified Shade, and the denseness caused him to black out instantly. The sound of sirens could be heard, and a fireman ran in and carried him away, into clear air.

Later, in the hospital, Shade woke up in a brightly lit room with doctors frantically hurrying all around him. He sat up and saw that his skin looked like a living shadow. His panic rising, he asked, "Umm… What happened to my skin?"

A scholarly looking fellow walked up to him and answered, "The electricity in the taser that you were shot with was able to conduct and absorb the particles of the dark cloud caused by my failed experiment. That, young man, is what then transformed you into what you are now. It's magnificent, if you think about it."

It took Shade a moment to realize what the man had said, "Wait, you created that cloud? You caused this? What could you have possibly been working on that was so important? I had my life all planned out, but now it's ruined, all thanks to you and your stupid project!"

The man looked genuinely surprised, "First of all," he readjusted his spectacles, "That was not purposeful. Everyone makes mistakes. Second, that accident cost me my closest friend. Lastly, the 'stupid project that I was working on,' as you put it, was creating superhumans, and it appears as if I've done just that!"

The man appeared as if he was going to continue talking, but the doctors moved him away so they could perform their tests on Shade.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **A Light to Show the Way**

Guido put his hand to his forehead. It was so hot that he was sweating. He looked up into the sky, but clouds covered all that he could see. He shrugged and went back to describing the scenery to all of the tourists. He looked around again and saw that a cloud of smoke had covered a large part of the city. He looked back and saw a wall of fire threatening to overtake his tour bus.

As a tour guide, his number one priority was to keep his passengers safe, so he quickly drove to the edge of the city. He parked the bus and yelled, "Everyone! Get out of this bus immediately! There is fire behind us and all of you need to get to safety!"

The passengers scrambled to get out of the bus while Guido assisted those who needed help. Eventually, there was only one left, an elderly woman with too much luggage. Without hesitation, he picked up the woman and her luggage and, with his muscles straining, he ran out of the bus, threw the luggage to safety, and set the woman down so she could run to safety. He turned back to see how much time he had and saw his bus become engulfed in flames, and he ran. As he reached the city limit, the flames swallowed him and all that was left was a charred figure laying on the ground.

The woman he had saved was a doctor, and she came forward and checked his pulse, "He is alive! Quickly, we must get him to the hospital!"

Step by step, they carried him to the one hospital that wasn't burned down, the Zhao Hospital. They turned him over to the nurses and all but the older woman left. She waited to see what his condition would be.

Meanwhile, Guido was rushed to the emergency room, where the doctors quickly realized that they were not equipped to help him, so they brought some in cellular regeneration experts. Those doctors in turn tried to use medicine to help him regenerate his skin more quickly, but his body absorbed it and burst into flame. This flame healed him using the medicine's properties and he regained consciousness.

"What just happened?" Guido yelled, "I was helping my passengers when I felt significant pain and… I'm on fire! I- wait, it doesn't hurt. It actually feels quite nice."

The doctors just stood, silent and startled, as a scientist walked into the room, "Ah, Guido! We have much to discuss now that you are awake again!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **The Demons Inside**

Daimon ran out of the alleyway. The kid he had just mugged was unconscious on the ground, and he had just enough time to hold his breath before a dark cloud enveloped him. As he ran through the dimly lit neighborhood, his oxygen started running out. He finally took a breath when his vision was dimming, and the smoke caused him to fall to the ground, sapping his strength.

He crawled onward and eventually made it to clear air. He breathed deeply, and the contrast in air quality caused him to cough and hack for a while. When he got up, the ground lurched and threw him back down. "Earthquake." he muttered. He got back up and saw his friend standing under a balcony that was about to fall.

Daimon sprinted to him and dove to push him out of the way, getting crushed by the balcony himself as his friend lay on the ground, stunned. His friend got up and yelled, "Someone! Help me get this off of my friend! Please!"

A couple people came out and helped him lift the rubble. Slowly, piece by piece, they raised the rubble off of Daimon. Slowly, Daimons crumpled form was revealed underneath all of the shattered stone. "I have a wheelchair that you could use to get him to the hospital." One of the helpers offered.

"Thank you. Thank you very much." Daimon's friend replied.

As they lifted his broken form into the wheelchair, the ground trembled and lifted, as if trying to reach him. Daimon's friend pushed the wheelchair to the hospital, occasionally being blocked by the dark fog, but eventually they made it to the hospital.

"Ugh," Daimon mumbled, "Ouch. This hurts so much. What happened?"

"You saved me. You dove and got me out of the way, even though it hurt you."

"Well, you're-" Daimon's eyes rolled in his head as the pain made him lose consciousness. His friend quickly rolled him up to the counter.

"My friend got crushed when the earthquake in the southern part of town happened."

The receptionist responded, "Another injury? Third one today! Well, I guess I'd better call Mr. Zhao and tell him that a third person is here."

The receptionist talked into the phone for a short time and then stated, "Mr. Zhao will be here shortly."

The receptionist had hardly finished talking when a disheveled scientist ran up, "already? I didn't expect another so soon, but such is chance. How was he injured?"

"He got crushed by a stone balcony when the earthquake happened."

"Ah. So this is earth." The scientist muttered. "You should go now. I'll get him to the emergency room right away. Your friend will be fine soon."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **Right After Lightning**

Storm stepped out of the gymnastics and acrobatics building after a hard workout. She had finally performed a quadruple flip off of the ground, a feat worth recognition, and was kicked out for being better than the owners.

She stormed out to the bus stop to wait, impatiently. When the bus doors finally opened, she looked up at the driver and smiled, "Hey Guido! How's business today?"

"Well, it's doing pretty good! Where are you getting off at, Storm?"

"Oh, just at the next stop. I have some things at home to deal with."

"Sit down and I'll get ya' right there!"

Thanks."

Storm sat down at a seat by herself and watched the buildings go by. She looked around and saw that many people were riding the bus today. Eventually, the bus stopped and Storm got out, "Thanks, Guido!"

"No problem! Anytime."

Storm had walked for a while when she started heating up. She looked back and saw a wall of fire threatening to catch her, so she jumped up to the fire escape on the building next to her and quickly ran up to the roof. As her feet hit the roof, the place where she had been was engulfed in flame.

Once the fire had passed, Storm slowly climbed down the fire escape, but halfway down, the earth began to rumble and the ladder came loose from the wall. She jumped to keep herself from getting stuck underneath it and rolled when she hit the ground.

"Today has gotten weirder and weirder." she thought as she ran to safety. She came upon a street with a few people trapped by a fallen power line, and she ran over to help.

Storm shifted the wooden pole so the people could walk through the gap in the electricity. "Hurry! Before something else happens!"

Soon, everyone was past the dangerous wire and Storm pulled out her phone to check the news and see what had happened. The app stated that esteemed scientist Shinya Zhao had made an error in his most recent experiment. This caused an explosion that caused the difficulties throughout the city.

Storm looked at the related news and saw that the dam of the Dark River had broken. She gasped, "What! No, no, no! That river is bad news for everyone!"

As she realized this, Storm looked back as she heard a rush of water. A wave of black water was rushing towards her, but there was nowhere to go. She dove into the water, hoping to keep up with it so she didn't get injured, but the water carried her into the broken power line, causing her to lose consciousness.

She was carried by the water for a long time, eventually passing by the Zhao hospital, where she was taken out of the water for treatment.

In a room with three other people, Storm awoke. The lights were dim, but a large flame was giving enough light to see. She studied the light until… "Guido? Is that you?"

The figure stirred, "Well, at least what's left of me. Who are you?"

"Guido, it's me! Storm!"

"Oh, well, with how you look, you should be called thunder!" he chuckled, "But seriously, what happened to you?

"What?" she ran to the mirror. "Why am I an avatar? And why am I flickering?"

The door opened, "It appears as if you've been affected strangely as well. I am Shinya Zhao."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **The Elementals**

"So. It appears as if all four are here, and sooner than I had hoped!" Shinya muttered, "Well, as I said before, I am Shinya Zhao, but you may call me Chance if you want."

"Oh no, there he goes again with his 'you are the elements' talk." Shade growled.

Chance continued unhindered, "Each of you has been affected in a different way. Shade, you were transformed by the air into a living shadow! Guido, you were changed into a torch by fire so you could lead the way for all! Daimon, you were crushed by the earth only to become the earth yourself, a steadfast barrier to hold back all evil! And Storm, you-"

"Call me Thunder, thanks." Storm interrupted.

"Ooh! Call me the Demon! It sounds cool!" Daimon added.

"Well, if they are getting new names, then I'll be the Guide." Guido finished.

"I like my name, and it fits, so I'll just be me." Shade muttered from the corner of the room.

"Well, as I was saying, Thunder, you were affected by the water to become a storm in and of yourself."

"Huh. I actually like that description of me." Thunder replied.

"Actually, could I say something?" Shade began, "This earth guy, Daimon, is the one who shot me with a taser and mugged me. If you're trying to make us into a team of 'heroes,' then I'm out. I would want to help people, but not with him."

Shade walked out of the room and left, so Guido started talking, "I, for one, think that becoming a team would be a great idea! After all that's happened, police forces will be distracted by the workload needed to rebuild, so we could help keep the city safe. Who's with me?"

"This option would mean putting most of the people I know into jail. I'm not willing to do that. I'll see ya' around. Don't try to stop me." With that, Daimon left as well.

"I'll help you, Guido. I want to help everyone in this city through the rough times ahead. It'll be good for us as well as them."

"So it's settled. We are the Elementals, and our first task will be to convince Shade and Daimon to join us."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Persuasion**

Thunder sprinted out into a shower of rain. Guido couldn't go because the rain would put out his fire. They had decided to split up to go looking for the two runaways. Thunder had to go look for Shade, and she knew exactly where to go.

The water giving her energy, Thunder ran at a full sprint all the way to the Frozen Milk ice cream shop. She always went there when she was feeling down, so she assumed that he would go for the ice cream treatment. As she stepped through the door, she saw the looks, the surprise at her strange form.

"I'd like two triple scoop ice cream cones of… Rocky Road, please." The attendant kept staring, "And make it quick! I don't have all day!"

Once she got the ice cream, Thunder walked over to the corner of the shop covered in shadows. She held out the cone, "Ice cream?"

A hand appeared and took the ice cream cone, "Thanks."

"Hey, you do know that you've covered this part of the shop in shadows?" Thunder asked.

"Yeah, but what's the point in holding the darkness in? I'm just a shadow now: unwanted, and people will just walk right through me without noticing. Why should I help them?"

"Shade." She began, "You are not unwanted, merely misunderstood. Did you see the looks that I was getting as I walked in? We're not human anymore, and that's not a bad thing. The reason to help them is that every person out the is a life, with a spark that could easily grow into a flame. Any person that loses that spark becomes a shell of themselves. In this time, many people could lose that spark of creativity, and we are the ones who could bring it back or even prevent it from being lost at all! Would you be willing to put aside the past to help the future?"

As she had been talking, the shadows had gotten lighter, and now Shade was by himself. "Sure, I guess. When you put it that way, it kinda' makes me feel guilty for leaving. The ice cream was really good, though." He smiled, "So, what will our team be named?"

"The Elementals."

"The Elementals? I like it!"

They both laughed as they walked out of the door, ready to help other people in need.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **Not Part of the Plan**

After a short discussion, Chance decided that all three of the Elementals should go find Daimon, to show him that they wanted him back, that he mattered. Off they went, to track down Daimon, which proved more difficult than they had thought.

Wandering down alleyways took a long time. For the first hour and a half, nothing interesting happened, but soon after that they came upon a crowd.

"No mercy!" yelled someone.

"Bash his brains out!" yelled another.

"Excuse me, but we're looking for someone named Daimon. Could you help us?" Thunder tried.

"Eh? Oh! You must be the challengers that the Demon spoke of. Get on down there!" the man started yelling, "Oy! Mr. Demon, sir! They're here!"

"Your insolence amuses me." A gravelly voice chuckled, "But I crush all insolence." The man gulped. People standing around him backed up as the earth grabbed the man and crushed him, coloring the ground red.

"Quickly, my friends, come to me or your fate will be the same as that man's."

The three ran through the crowd into a large ring, mostly filled by an earthen behemoth capable of wrecking the entire city, and whose eyes were flashing red and yellow. It grinned, "Don't you recognize me? It's me, the Demon! If you can beat me in battle, then you will be free, along with your friend, for now. If not, you will share the same fate as the others." He gestured at the bodies around him, "You had better learn your powers quickly, or you won't be able to."

With remarkable speed for its size, the golem punched at Shade, who yelped and covered his face. He ran to the side, but the blow glanced off of his side, spinning him into a wall and knocking him unconscious. Meanwhile, the Guide had figured out how to shoot fire, so he blow-torched the behemoth, but anything that was melted off immediately regenerated. He was knocked unconscious by a blow to the head.

The only one left was Thunder. The golem laughed, "You're even worse at this than I thought you'd be! You disappoint me and waste my time!"

Unable to think through her rage, Thunder ran straight at the behemoth, startling it. She jumped into the air and, electricity crackling around her, she hit the beast directly in the chest, causing an explosion that caused the air to smell like ozone and revealing the beast's weakness.

At this point, Shade became conscious again, and he saw the weakened Thunder at the mercy of the behemoth. He stood up, groaning, and made a sound that cannot be heard by human ears, and called hundreds of bats to a cloud above him. He changed the pitch and they dove, attacking the golem, distracting it so the now awake Guide could melt off its legs, making it fall.

Thunder walked over to the behemoth and created a gentle shower of rain over the beast, causing the earth to crumble and melt, revealing an unconscious form inside. The man's eyes flickered open, "What the heck just happened to me?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **Together at Last**

"Did I really do all of that?" Daimon asked.

"We're still not sure. The behemoth talked about you like a separate person, and it said that you would be free 'for now.' Do you have any idea of what that means?" Thunder asked.

"Well, when I was unconscious, I heard the name Charlie. Maybe that's the guy's name and he was using me to interact with the physical world?" Daimon shuddered at the thought.

A week had passed and they still had no idea what happened, though Daimon agreed to join the Elementals. "At least he hasn't come back. I also haven't gotten angry in this past week. Maybe that has something to do with it." Daimon tried.

"Possibly, but I think that we should stop being gloomy and go do something as a team!" Shade put in, "Maybe we could go bowling!"

"Sure! I love bowling!" The Guide answered.

The Elementals went walking to the nearest bowling alley, since no car could hold them in their changed forms. They arrived at the bowling alley and paid for one game. As they walked over to their lane, Daimon and the Guide were discussing how to get the bowling shoes on, but they eventually decided it would be impossible to put any on.

"With or without powers?" Shade asked when they got to their game, "Sabotage or no?"

"Yes, and no. Yes, to the powers, but no to sabotaging other people." Guido answered.

"Awww. It would be a cool experience, though. Protecting our ball from others, making sure it gets all the way there." Shade tried.

"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to practice with our powers." Guido grinned.

Shade was up first, and when he rolled his bowling ball, Daimon made a short wall to block it, but its shadow let Shade transport the ball through the shadow and get a strike. Next up was Guido. He rolled his ball, using heat to keep it in line, but Thunder made water push the ball into the gutter. Daimon was third, so he made a slide to roll his ball, but Guido melted the ramp and it rolled to get three pins.

Last of all came Thunder. She rolled the ball directly down the lane, and when Guido tried to melt the floor, she cooled it down. Daimon tried making a wall, but Thunder's water made a path in it. As her ball was passing through the wall, there was a slight shadow that caused it to fall, appearing behind the pins and getting no points.

The game continued in this manner until it was finished. Shade had won with the maximum score of three hundred points. "Good game guys!" Shade said as they were walking back to Chance's lab.

"Yeah, sure." mumbled Daimon, who had gotten no points, "I guess it was fun."

This stopped the conversation until they got to the lab, where they all immediately went to their individual rooms and fell asleep, exhausted from using their powers.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **The True Threat**

The next morning, Chance decided that they should truly become a team, to go out and help people. Right before they left, he decided he should have a costume, so people wouldn't know who he was. He came out wearing a light blue suit made of a thin, flexible material, that also had a shooting star in multiple places. He reasoned, "Shooting stars happen by chance, and I am Chance, so my symbol should be a shooting star."

They left dramatically, with the Demon underneath them and the Guide above them, tunneling and flying. The rest were on foot, with ice trailing behind Thunder, shadows following Shade, and Chance surrounded by light. As they traveled, Shade remarked, "You know, I really think we should have someone back at the lab to tell us where trouble is. Right now, we probably look like dramatic traveling freaks."

At that moment, Chance's eyes shone brightly and he said, "I can see where trouble will most likely be, and we are traveling there now."

They continued in that direction until they heard sirens. They sped over and saw that a wall was about to fall on an injured person struggling to get to safety. An ambulance was there, but unable to help, so the Demon came out of the ground and put an extra layer of stone on the wall to stabilize it. As soon as the people in the ambulance saw this, they ran out to the person, lifted them into a wheelchair, put them in the ambulance and drove away.

"See? Isn't it nice to help people?" Chance asked.

"Yeah, it is. I- watch out! Some people look like they're gonna try to hurt us!" The Demon warned Chance.

Chance looked back to see three muscled men with guns come out from behind the building. "Hey, You! The weirdos with 'powers!' I'm talkin' to you! You just called the wrath of the MNM gang. You'll be sorry!"

The man pulled out his gun, but the Guide melted it and Thunder froze him in ice. Shade travelled through the shadows and knocked out the second man. He called his bats to distract the third as that man pulled out a rocket propelled grenade launcher, so the man missed. The rocket instead flew towards innocent bystanders. Not thinking, the Demon jumped in front of the missile, and though it didn't hurt him, it did make him mad.

"You try to hurt me, my friends, or anyone else, ever again, and I will find you, because I AM THE DEMON!" At this, his eyes flickered red and stayed the bright, blood red color. All of the stone around him broke and floated towards him, creating a suit of armor, a behemoth, around him that was unstoppable. With incredible speed, it crushed the three men and flew over the city by levitating the stones around it. It flew to the center of the city, where it started speaking in its booming, gravelly voice.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 **A Choice**

"Citizens of Cienzivel city." Most of the population looked up to see a behemoth above the city. "You have been living a lie. This city was founded by wielders of the four elements. Its name means the elements, and yet, none of you know of the true history of this city.

"As the greatest empire, we had everything, except one empire that stood against us, one with magic, magic that could crush our armies easily. The Emperor found out that four children had been born at the same time, and were showing signs of the same magic that the opposing empire had. He took them from their parents and trained them to use their powers to survive, to be weapons.

"When they were old enough, the Emperor sent them to war against the small empire, which they defeated in a battle that took only one day. They were like siblings, and one was gravely injured. They all used the last of their powers to create this island and send peaceful people here, and all but one died.

"I am that one that survived. I am the Demon. I control all of the earth. You have turned this peaceful place into an evil den of brokenness. I will give all of you a choice. Bring me the man who caused this chaos within thirty minutes, and I will spare your lives. If you resist me, I will destroy you before the time is up. If no one is brought forward, I will crush this island and start over. The clock is ticking."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 **The Battle**

Almost instantly, an uproar went through the city. All of the people immediately started searching for Shinya Zhao, as they knew him. After a few minutes, fires roared throughout the city once again as fear swept through the population.

Some tried to escape through the water with boats, but the behemoth sank them and created a wall around the island. The wall blocked most of the sunlight and cast a shadow on the city. "You have ten minutes left. Don't try to escape again or I will crush you all." The behemoth growled.

"These shadows… There are enough that I could trap him in them. I'll need you guys to distract him and push him into the shadows so that I can trap him there. Are you ready?" Shade asked them.

"Okay. I can melt the stone and distract him, chance could blind him, and Thunder could weigh him down with water so he falls into the shadows." the Guide suggested.

"Okay, let's go!" Thunder urged.

The Guide flew up to the behemoth and started shooting flames from all four of his limbs to melt the limbs of the behemoth, but the stone quickly regenerated. As he was doing that, Chance ran up steps made of light that disappeared once he passed. Chance kept running until he reached the height of the behemoth. "Look away!" He yelled at the Guide as he shined like a miniature star and blinded the behemoth.

The behemoth held his arms in front of him to block the attacks and started backing up. Thunder flew up and shot a torrent of water at the chest of the behemoth, drilling a hole into the center of it. This revealed Daimon's body, and Chance ran and pulled him from the shell.

"Do it now! The being's spirit should be trapped in the earth that he controlled. Do it!" Chance yelled.

Thunder spread the water out so it pushed the behemoth into the shadows caused by the walls. Shade immediately trapped him in the shadows, never to be seen again.

They ran back to what was left of the lab and layed Daimon down on a bed and checked his vitals. He was fine, just unconscious. After a few minutes, he woke up, "Did it happen again?" he groaned, "I hurt all over."

"Yes, it happened again." Chance told him.

"Ugh. I'm so sorry." Daimon said.

They all assured him it was fine and told him what had happened. Eventually, Chance made everyone leave so Daimon could rest and recover. As the door closed, his eyes turned red and he smiled.


	12. The Biographies of the Elementals

**Shade**

Age: 17

Hobbies:

Programming games, playing games, math

Personality: Slightly close minded with strangers, opens up after he gets to know people.

Bio: The quiet, level headed one of the bunch, he can disappear into any shadow, giving him an advantage as a surprise attack. His bats can be summoned to him, distracting the enemy while he finishes them off. Shade is the master of air.

 **Thunder**

Age: 26

Hobbies: Texting, talking, taking peaceful walks

Personality: Very loud and outspoken

Bio: A loud outspoken elemental whose temper is like a hurricane. Her skills include a light rain that makes plants flourish to a dangerous storm that defeats all enemies around. Thunder is the water elemental.

 **The** **** **Guide**

Age: 68

Hobbies: Reading, thinking, giving advice, drinking tea

Personality: A wise old man who cares for others and is filled with wisdom

Bio: A mellow elemental who uses the light of his fire to show others the way and to see past lies. These fires of warmth and health can be turned up into a blistering heat that destroys all in his path. The Guide is the lord of fire.

 **The Demon**

Age: 36

Hobbies: Staying alive, earning money

Personality: Joking, but can be serious and doesn't open up to others very often

Bio: A tricky little devil, the Demon loves to pull pranks on and tell jokes about his fellow elementals. While usually fun loving, when angry, his eyes turn either yellow or red and he will do anything necessary to protect those around him. The Demon controls all earth.

 **Chance**

Age: ?

Hobbies: Creating and designing new things

Personality: Truthful, mysterious, intelligent

Bio: No one knows very much about Chance. As Shinya Zhao, he is well known as a famous scientist leading the way to many discoveries, but not much else is known of this reclusive man.


End file.
